Chapter 0

Prologue.

There was a time.

There was a time when I still thought of this world as a novel.

In the beautiful scenery spread out before my eyes, there was a time when I would casually save that girl, who seemed unhappy despite her familiar appearance, and then vanish without a trace.

Even though I thought it was all part of a novel.

While feeling inexplicable pity for those fading eyes, eyes that might one day belong to a witch capable of toppling an empire, I offered a brief smile.

And there was a time when, enchanted by her smile—a smile that she had directed at me for the first time—I instinctively reached out to help her again.

And because of that, the witch had, before I knew it, turned into a woman who was now fixated solely on me.